Contamination threatens the North Coast way of life
Iain Hunter, Special to Times Colonist
Published: Saturday, March 29, 2008
I'm told that when other people in British Columbia turn off a few lights at 8 p.m. today to observe Earth Hour, the folks in Hartley Bay are making a bit more of a sacrifice by shutting down the town's only generator.
It's said to be a dry run for the day when they can close the thing down for good and switch to greener and safer hydro generation, for they've been reminded what could lie ahead.
Most of us know Hartley Bay residents as the heroes who put to the water in boats to bring Queen of the North passengers to warmth and safety when the ferry slammed into Gil Island a couple of years ago.
When, last week, they sued B.C. Ferries for the environmental damage done by the accident and the apparent willingness of the corporation simply to let the sunken hulk sit there 450 metres below the surface, they gained a great deal of public sympathy.
I remember thinking at the time how unfair it was that yet another First Nations community was the victim of events beyond its control -- the victim of hazards created for the convenience of people from far away who assume right of passage through waters so vital to the Gitga'at.
So it was a bit of a shock to learn that it has been accused of contaminating its own shores and nearby waters with diesel fuel by allowing about 15,000 litres of diesel to spill from an onshore storage tank while it was being refilled on Dec. 29, 2007.
According to Environment Canada, the person filling the tank was not trained properly and a gauge on the tank was not working, and no one was prepared for the disaster. It could have happened anywhere, the way governments fail these days to provide the monitoring to make sure regulations are being obeyed.
The sad part is that the community has been trying to find other ways to power the village that don't risk so much environmental damage. It also needs to find a cheaper way: Its electricity costs are 10 times the provincial average per capita.
After engaging the Pembina Institute in 2003 to help them, the Gitga'a decided to go for a low-scale hydro system, but have raised only about $1 million of the $8 million needed.
Other First Nations on the North Coast are being invited to take even greater risks to share in a progress that's destroying their traditional lifestyles.
Governments, through treaty negotiations and other deals, are encouraging First Nations self-reliance as if to atone for generations in which their traditional way of life was destroyed as government policy. The temptation to jump at chances is great; the risks often greater.
I'm thinking of the Alaskan community of Nuiqsut where oil and gas developments on tribal lands have left people overrun by machines that have chased off the wildlife they depend upon in violation of agreements made in good faith, and chemicals have sickened them.
I'm thinking of the Haisla of Kitamaat, at the other end of the Douglas Channel from Hartley Bay, who have to decide whether to become part of an energy corridor to Kitimat, as a terminus for crude oil from the Alberta oilsands, so far away, bound for Asia and the U.S., even further distant.
And I'm thinking of March, 19 years ago, when the Exxon Valdez ran aground, and the water, as natives there say, died.
Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn claims that the 34-year-old moratorium on tanker traffic along the North Coast doesn't exist except as a "voluntary-adopted measure" in 1985.
The government in Ottawa seems to rely on the shifting oilsands for its survival in the West. The government in Victoria seems keen on offshore oil and gas development, where U.S. states like California, Oregon and Washington won't tolerate the risk.
There are reports that tankers loaded with condensate needed to dilute oilsands crude have already called at Kitimat. Who knows what will follow to threaten that supernatural coastline and its communities?
Back in Hartley Bay the people huddled in blankets around the community fire tonight are focused on what they can do to keep their lands and waters clean and safe. The threat from outside, from offshore, is well beyond the firelight.
They must believe that if the boats have to put out again, it won't be the day the water dies.
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2008
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